


The Miraculous Ladybug: Hunt for the Butterfly

by SoulQueen



Series: Miraculous Fix-It [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:00:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25738435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoulQueen/pseuds/SoulQueen
Summary: I decided since Miraculous: Tales of the New Order would take a lot longer to complete, I would rewrite MLB my own way, without trying to stick to canon. For the most part, Marinette works alone and will bring in new heroes as she needs them. But this is to showcase what Ladybug is like on her own.
Relationships: Lukanette - Relationship, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Ninonette - Relationship, feluka, nino x Marinette
Series: Miraculous Fix-It [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1522976
Comments: 21
Kudos: 73





	1. With Great Power

**Author's Note:**

> Chat Noir will show up eventually but so will Cheshire (the original Felix, Felix Culpa in this au). I've also decided to let my ship sail with Ninonette and pair the two biggest Ladybug fans, Alya and Adrien, up together.  
> And sorry for the infodumping in chapter one.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng wouldn’t exactly call herself a normal girl. During the summer holiday between quatrième and troisième, in an attempt to help her feel better prepared for lycée, and to relearn Mandarin, her mother got her a tutor. Sabine had taught Marinette Mandarin growing up but she’d focused primarily on Wenzhounese so she’d be able to speak to her maternal relatives with ease. Yeah, Marinette knew what languages she’d pick to learn in lycée, and a head start couldn’t hurt. The thing that didn’t make her normal, her Mandarin teacher, a frequent customer to the bakery, also taught her Tai Chi for combat and meditation. He said it was to help her clumsiness and it did actually.

The name he’d given her was Wang Fu and sure, she knew a lot of mundane stuff about him, like his favorite macaroon flavor and that he ran a massage parlor and didn’t normally give Mandarin and Tai Chi lessons. Buts he also knew he was an elderly Tibetan man who’d survived World War II France but never specified whether he’d fought or not. And he was very protective of his gramophone, she figured it was just an old family heirloom, they had those. The kicker was, he also spoke to it. More than once she’d shown up surprisingly early to a lesson to find him having a conversation, but when she was allowed to enter a few seconds after being noticed, no one else was there.

Her father told her it could be PTSD, her mother told her not to pry. Patience has great rewards and other words of wisdom Wang Fu had given them in the three years he’d been visiting their bakery.

Marinette bit her lip, waiting patiently in their study area while he talked to not one, but _two_ small voices. She knew Master Fu had called the usual one Wayzz a few times. _Maybe this new one has a name too. I wonder who they were to him._

“Marinette, you may come in now. There is someone I would like you to meet.”

Startling, she shot up and tried to enter the room as respectfully as she could without looking like she’d been straining her ears to hear what they were saying.

The Master sat on a cushion, tea set up on the small table and floating beside two cups were a little green thing and a little red bug thing.

“Um…Master?”

“Please, have a seat.” He patted the cushion beside him.

Pushing a loose lock behind her ear, she sat down, looking between the Master and the floating bug things. They watched her with big intense eyes, putting her on display. It was like school.

“Marinette, I am going to tell you something I have not told anyone in a very long time and I need to be sure, can I trust you with this information?”

She nodded, “Of course, Master.”

He smiled, “I believe you” and cleared his throat. “These are kwami, the green one is my kwami, a turtle named Wayzz.”

“Wonderful to meet you,” said Wayzz, bowing his head.

“Thank you.”

“And this red one here is Tikki, a very powerful kwami. We have chosen you to be her wielder.”

“What?” she said at the same time Tikki said, “Hello.”

Fu held his hands out, gesturing for her not to overreact. “Do not worry, we know that you too are perfectly compatible. Tikki is the kwami of creation and life. You’ve proven yourself to be creative, resourceful, and passionate in the time that I’ve known you, especially during your training.”

“What about the life part.”

“You brighten the lives of those around you and you’ve told me quite a lot about your balcony garden.”

She tried not to look too skeptical and glanced at Tikki.

The bright red, black polka-dotted kwami beamed at her, “I’m so glad to finally meet you.” Despite looking as though she were bursting with joy, the kwami was visibly holding back, even holding her not quite hands pressed together. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

“It’s…nice to meet you too.”

Her smile wavered for a second.

Marinette knew she’d disappointed her in some way and she hated disappointing anyone. She turned to Fu to move this whole ordeal along. “Why am I being chosen though? What am I supposed to do?”

Fu sighed, “The short of it is that there are nineteen Kwami, each of which had their beings bound to a Miraculous,” for emphasis he showed her his turtle bracelet. “Centuries ago, two of these miraculi were lost along with the grimoire explaining their powers and other dangerous secrets. I have reason to believe that all three of these are located here in Paris and I need your help to reclaim them.”

“And then what,” she blurted, without thinking. She covered her mouth, blushing, slumping back in an attempt to shrink. That was ruder than she’d intended it to be.

Fu looked down, saddened. “I have guarded the Miraculi for a very long time and it has become clear to me that despite their intentions, humanity should not have access to the power of the kwami. I intend to free them and destroy all trace of their existence in hopes of preventing future disasters. In the wrong hands, they are deadly and I fear they have come into the wrong hands here in Paris.”

“Oh…”

The kwami watched her expectantly.

She pretended to be very interested in her hands while she thought. This was a lot to put one on someone’s shoulders, she wasn’t even fourteen yet. She’d have to start worrying about her last year of college in a week and then final exams would be right around the corner and sure, she knew what she wanted to focus on in lycée but it would be a lot of work and she still had to help out at the bakery and-and—and Master Fu was trusting her. She took a deep, steadying breath and looked up, resolute.

“Okay. I’ll do my best Master.”

Their faces brightened.

Fu removed two pins from the color of his Hawaiian shirt and Tikki disappeared. He put them in a black box with a red symbol she didn’t recognize and held it out to her.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you are now the wielder of the Kwami of Creation, Tikki, she will give you great power and I am trusting you to use it wisely. If I cannot succeed in my goal, would you accept the responsibility of continuing it?”

“I accept.” She didn’t know she could sound so sure of something that didn’t include baking and fashion. And that Chloé Bourgeoise was the worst person that she knew.

“Thank you. No lesson today, why don’t you two get to know each other?”

“Oh—alright.”

“Back so soon,” said Sabine when Marinette ran upstairs through the bakery, ducking behind her father carrying fresh trays of croissants for the lunch crowd.

“I’ve got private study,” she called.

She hurried up to her attic bedroom, dropped her bag on her chaise, and threw herself into her desk chair, spinning.

“Alright, let’s see what I’m working with.”

She opened the box and a pink ball of light emerged, fading into Tikki. She would have thrown the box if she didn’t already know who was inside.

“I won’t officially be yours until you put the earrings on,” she said, pointing to the red earrings with black spots.

“Huh, I thought these were lapel pins.”

“They can be lapel pins if you want.”

“No, I’m fine with earrings. I needed a new everyday pair anyways.” She cleaned them and her earlobes with rubbing alcohol and put them in. “There, how do I look?”

“Beautiful,” said the kwami, giggling. She flew around in delight, wings fluttering. Marinette just noticed her antennae.

“Tikki, if Wayzz is a turtle, what are you?”

“I took the form of a ladybug, the wizard who made my miraculous _loved_ them, they protected their garden. I even gave myself wings, aren’t they great?” She twirled in the air, flaunting.

“Very. So, what am I supposed to know?”

Tikki stopped, and floated down to the desk, serious. “Well, through me, you can use a fraction of my powers to create objects from nothing, fly, recreate or rebuild something broken, even a concept like time, and you can purify the corrupted kwami and those affected by corrupted kwami magic. The Guardian believes that whoever has the missing miraculi would end up corrupted by it because at least one of them were broken when they were lost. But there is also the possibility that the person using them will corrupt them.”

“Oh, what should I look out for?”

“Permission to show you?”

“Okay?”

Tikki pressed her head against Marinette’s forehead, shutting her eyes. Marinette could see a purple butterfly brooch and a blue and green peacock brooch, beside them she assumed, were their kwami.

Tikki pulled back, sadness creeping into her voice. “If the butterfly is used for evil, they can create akumas and if it’s the peacock, they will create amok. The Master has already started training you for fighting these, but I will as well.”

“O-oh, like right now.”

She shook her head, a small smile returning to her face. “No, tonight. In the meantime, could you catch me up on the world. I haven’t been awake for a while. Who’s the king of France right now?”

“You weren’t kidding. Okay, so, let’s start with the revolution.”

All the secrets of the grimoire had not yet been revealed to him, but he was getting there and after two long years of studying, he thought he’d finally found a way to bring her back, his beloved. In a secret room filled with pure white, fluttering wings, he devised his plan.

“I’ll bring you back,” he promised, shutting the locket with her picture inside.

His kwami pulled away, mouth gone. They had tested his patience with their warnings.


	2. Productive Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette trains with La Coccinelle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I believe that La Coccinelle is based off of Julie d'Aubigny a French fencer and opera singer.

Marinette woke up in her dream acutely aware that yes, this was a dream. She tried to tell herself to wake up because she knew she was supposed to be doing something and despite her apparent lucidity, she couldn’t remember what.

“You made it, yay,” said a small, familiar voice around her.

“Um…who are you again?”

She felt them frown. They appeared before her.

“Oh, right. Sorry Tikki.”

“It’s okay. This is our first night after all. Now I need you to focus.”

“Easy…” she wondered where she was. This wasn’t like her normal dreams.

“Marinette?”

“You’ve got my full attention. We’re training, right?”

“Right. But before that, what do you want to train with? Every chosen before you had a weapon of choice, a staff, a saber, kunai, a sitar, bow and arrow, at one point even a wand.”

“Oh, um, do I have to choose one? Wouldn’t I need a different weapon depending on each fight?”

“Maybe.”

_Okay, think Marinette, what’s versatile and flexible and long range?_ Her mind wandered to her yo-yo and how she’d amaze Nino and Kim with tricks. She always wanted to use it like a grapping hook.

“A yo-yo could work, yeah.”

“Woah, what? Are you reading my mind?”

“I’m in your mind.”

“Fair point. Yeah, let’s try a yo-yo.”

In a flurry of red and pink hearts, a yo-yo appeared around her waist.

“Neat. What’s next.”

“In case you do need to fight to reclaim the miraculi, what will you fight in?”

“Can I have a pencil and paper?”

The red and pink hearts swarmed her hands and she had a sketchpad and a pencil. Sitting cross-legged in the grass, she got to work sketching up a few costume designs based off of Tikki. The kwami sat on her shoulder, watching attentively.

“Okay, this one for sure.” She held out the sketchpad, beaming with pride.

Tikki tore the page out of the book and it disappeared. Marinette looked stricken and screamed when the kwami swallowed it.

“What,” she said over a mouthful, “this ish how ah make em.”

Marinette made a pained noise as the red and pink hearts swarmed all around her with a helpful mirror. She had a waist-length cape for wings that clasped at her collarbone with little black hearts, it also acted as armor. Red ribbons kept her hair in pigtails mimicking antennae, knee-high black combat boots with laces that never came undone and black elbow length kidskin gloves protected the rest of her limbs.[1] If she needed to fight, it wouldn’t be in loose clothing, aside from the cape. She had on a black silk turtleneck and above it what could easily be mistaken for a leather bodice from a video game she didn’t play anymore but still had old character designs of. Her pants were also black, cuffed at the knee below the boots. Her mask was red with black polka-dots. She ran her fingers across it, she hadn’t deiced what fabric it was yet and— “Oh.”

“Is something wrong?”

“My eyes.” They weren’t her mother’s grey with those little hints of green from her father. Instead, they were blue. Even now, she was noticing that her hair had a blue tint to it.

“All chosen get some of the physical aspects of their kwami, to disguise them. You get my blue eyes and I’ve tinted your hair a bit too. Was that okay?”

“Only when I’m transformed?”

“Yes, only when you say, ‘Spots On’ will the change happen.”

She nodded, “Okay” and chuckled nervously. “I guess it would be pretty bad if someone realized it was me behind this mask. My life would be ruined.”

“And if the miraculi are being used for evil, you’d be in danger too.”

“Yeah, that’s part of the ruin. Oh, let’s make a covert outfit while we’re at it? Please?”

“There’ll be time for that. If you intend to fight in this, let’s see how you fair. I’ll test you with one of my more recent holders.” Tikki faded away and the scene around Marinette shifted. She was in a courtyard staring at a woman with a scabbard and a brown cavalier hat.

_Her costume is so cool. Why didn’t I choose fencer?_

“Focus Marinette. This is La Coccinelle, the Ladybug of the late 1600s. She will be helping you with fencing, whether that be fight or evading.”

“Oh no.”

“This is a no rules fight,” said La Coccinelle, lunging at her.

Marinette yelped, grabbing her yo-yo and spinning it as she dodged out of the way. Thinking fast, she threw the yo-yo out to catch her feet, knowing she’d have a strong grip on her sword and wouldn’t let it go that easily. Marinette tugged on the wire, flying up and spinning. La Coccinelle slashed at the yo-yo, freeing herself.

“That’s not fair.”

“Her sword is also a weapon made by me. Otherwise, it’s unbreakable.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She dove for La Coccinelle, spinning circles around her, keeping out of the way of her saber. The fencer got fed up with her and jumped up to grab her, pulling her down by the wings and tearing her cape off. Groaning, Marinette had to roll away fast to avoid her remise. Marinette didn’t know how she knew it was a remise but she chalked it up to magic as she pushed herself up, kicking la Coccinelle’s feet from under her.

“How’s that?”

“Why don’t I give you more environment to work with, based off your memories if that’s alright with you?”

“Okay.” She pulled her yo-yo back, the body reforming as she did. Maybe, if she could create anything, she could turn it into anything too.

The ground shook as the courtyard crumbled away, replaced with the Jeanne d’Arc statue.

Tikki sighed around them. “Between Julie and Jeanne, I don’t know who I liked best.”

“Got a thing for swords?” she said, flying up onto the statue and mentally begging her yo-yo to become a saber.

“That’s not her it works Marinette. And who doesn’t love swords?”

“Okay, okay. I’ll put that resourcefulness to use.” She looked around for anything else she could use, even if it didn’t last long, it would at least throw La Coccinelle off enough or her to switch to something she hoped she’d have an advantage in, hand-to-hand. She snapped a lamppost off near its end, using it to parry La Coccinelle until she cut it in half, so Marinette parried and punched, narrowly avoiding the blade. She has a thin cut on her arm and her bangs got a free trim. She another cut as La Coccinelle stumbled back.

The past Ladybug wielder smirked at her as she steadied herself. Marinette spun her yo-yo, swinging up to a rooftop and staying there. She tried again to get the saber but when the yo-yo wire wrapped around it the beep of her alarm permeated the dream world, she and Tikki both gasped.

Tikki groaned, rolling off her pillow. “What is that awful noise?”

“My alarm,” she sighed. “I’ve got to help out at the bakery today.”

“Bakery! You know, I eat cookies to recharge, any sweet really, but I love chocolate chip cookies.” She floated up, wings whirring in her excitement, wide eyes expectant.

Marinette laughed. “Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

[1] Think Sypha Belnades from the Netflix adaptation fused with Ladybug’s current outfit and my other descriptions in other fics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've recently started drawing digitally so here's my first attempt at my LB redesign. More soon.


	3. Out on the Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette spends the day with friends and Tikki gets to see how Paris has changed.

Marinette sketched out a new hat design, she wanted one with a wider brim. Tikki peeked out her blazer pocket to watch while they waited for Nino and Kim. A new pizza place opened up and they wanted to try it. She just needed them to get there already.

“Yo, Marinette,” called Nino. The shop door was wide open to let in some breeze.

She waved at him.

“What ya working on?”

“Fedora. Where’s Kim?”

“Still at the pool. Swim team starts practice early you know.”

“So, we’re ordering without him?”

“I think he’d be appalled if we didn’t. What are we trying first?”

“The Reine. Then, I’m thinking pepperoni?”

“You read my mind. I’ll go get them.”

“Thank you,” she sung.

“Is that your boyfriend Marinette,” Tikki whispered.

She wrote her response in the bottom corner of the page: We’re best friends.

“Oh, I see. Does he draw too?”

DJs. He performs music. Not with an instrument though.

Tikki had to puzzle over that one.

“Here ya go, I got us Gini,” he handed her a green can. “So, do you know whose class you’re going to be in?”

“Bustier’s,” she said solemnly.

“Again. How many years has it been?”

“Four in a row now. You?”

“Well, at least you won’t be alone. I mean, aside from Kim.”

A little gasp escaped her lips, “You too, we can sit together.”

“Yeah, I can take your notes when you inevitably show up late.”

“Don’t sound too begrudging or I won’t give you pastries. Oh, before I forget to mention, you-know-who is also in Bustier’s class again this year.”

“Ugh, there goes our peaceful final year. Maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll switch classes. Or we get a new student.”

“Nino,” she chastised. “I don’t her to get a new target, I want her to stop. I wish the school would do something about it.” She sighed, looking away.

“ _We_ could always transfer classes.”

“Tried that. Bustier insisted I remain with her. I’m not sure what she told Damocles but it worked, twice.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. But hey, that just means we’ve got a chance to make this year better, and then you’ll never have to see either of them again in lycée.”

A small smile cut through her worry. “Yeah, you’re right. And we’ve only got to get into one of the ones on our lists.”

“We’ve only got to get into the _same_ one.”

She giggled, “Right.”

The cashier called that their pizza was ready.

Kim got there when they were ordering their second slices. They promised him ice cream since they didn’t wait for him.

“Alright,” said the swimmer, “commencing the Chaotic Trios first September search for, dun, dun, dun, dun, Andre the Ice Cream man. Marinette, where was his last spotted.”

She checked the Instagram accounted dedicated to finding his cart. “Outside the Louvre, beside a man selling balloon animals.”

“And hats,” Nino added, looking over her shoulder.

“Then it’s a race. Last one there buys,” he said, stretching.

“Kim, I don’t want to race you.”

“I can’t hear you over the sound of free ice cream,” he called, dashing off.

Nino shook his head as she groaned. “We’re taking the metro?”

“Obviously.”

Tikki moved to Marinette’s purse, phasing through it to get a better look at the station and the sleek silver train that pulled up. She was amazed by all the advertisements, making a list of the ones she didn’t understand to ask Marinette about later.

“Oh, hey, looks like he’s on the move,” said Nino. “He was just spotted outside the Polish Embassy.”

“Think Kim will check his phone?”

“It’s Kim.”

“You’re right.”

They got off at Assemblée Nationale and walked down, checking the Instagram every few feet.

“You know, I do kind of want a balloon animal,” said Nino.

“Kim still owes up for the pizza.”

Kim was catching his breath at the Eiffel Tower.

Tikki watched with delight Marinette hat was made followed by Nino’s dog. The last balloon she’d ever seen was a hot air balloon.

“That’s weird, he’s headed for Luxembourg now.”

“I wonder if he has any new flavors.”

“I still haven’t tried the black currant one.”

Nino had stopped to tie his shoe so she was checking on Tikki.

“Can I have ice cream?”

“Yeah, why not. We can share. How do you feel about honey lavender?”

“Huh?”

A kid in sunglasses and a black hoodie ran past her, blonde hair peeking out of the hood. He bumped into her and almost tripped over Nino.

“Sorry,” he called, picking up speed when a mob of teens ran after him.

“Woah. That was weird, you okay Tikki.”

The kwami nodded, dizzy.

“Wonder who he was,” said Nino. “Aw man, they popped my dog.”

“You can have my hat.” Her hair stood up on end and he got shocked when he tried to take it off. “There’s something electric between us,” he joked, shaking his hand.

She chuckled, smoothing down her hair. It was out today. She still hadn’t decided on her main look for the year.

Her purse vibrated.

“It’s Kim. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, totally, totally,” he panted. “I made it to the Louvre.”

“The deal was to make it to Andre, and he’s at Luxembourg Palace still.” She looked at Nino for confirmation, “Right?”

He gave her a thumbs up.

“But hey, we’ll meet you there, you owe us for your ice cream though.”

“Ask him if the balloon guy is still there.”

“Can you get Nino a new dog balloon? A blue one.”

A really tall, broad man jogged past them in a blazer above a dark grey turtleneck.

“It’s too hot for a turtleneck.”

Nino laughed, “Wait, what if it’s one of those short-sleeved ones with no back? That’s why they’re wearing the blazer.”

She pretended not to know what he was talking about. “We’ll be there in a little bit, Kim.”

“Wait, I didn’t tell you my—” she hung up.

Andre Glacier was still where they’d tracked him. Marinette got two scoops of honey lavender while Nino got three scoops. He layered it with black currant, black cherry, and blackberry. They got Kim his usual pistachio, vanilla, strawberry. He presented Nino with a blue dog.

“I’m gonna learn how to make balloon animals,” he said.

“Don’t think auntie will like that idea,” said Marinette.

“Not since you quit magic lessons at least,” added Nino.

“No, no, I’ve got a number of stupid, frivolous things I’m allowed to do this year. So, because she told me I ought to be more organized, I planned it all out.” He showed them his notes app where he’d made the list. “And here’s my wildcard, so it’s gotta be something wild.”

“You’re gonna waste your wildcard on balloon animals?”

“You’re planning those out now?”

He frowned, “You’re right, it needs to be something bigger, they’re expecting me to take things seriously in lycée, especially since we won’t be together next year.”

Nino and Nette glanced at each.

“Aw, don’t worry dude, I’m sure you’ll find new partners in crime for school hours.”

“And we’ll hang out after, just like always.”

Kim nodded, a rare soft smile on his lips. “But I still intend to dazzle this year.”

“Oh no,” Marinette groaned.

“Should I even ask who?”

“It’ll work this year, I know it.”

“You’ve never held a conversation with her, what exactly is your plan if you successfully ‘dazzle’ her?”

“Cross that bridge when I get there Nino. Stop trying to deter me from my dreams.”

“You are ridiculous,” sighed Marinette, nearly done with her ice cream. Tikki was helping.

“Utterly ridiculous,” said Nino, smirking. “Why don’t you try having a conversation with her this year and then we’ll see if we can help you dazzle.”

Kim was hesitant, yeah, he was usually up for anything but could he face the fear of rejection? “Swear it on Fort Nicodemus.”

“I swear, bro. I want you to actually do it.”

“Marinette?”

She knew this wouldn’t end well. “Okay, I swear.” But Kim was usually fun about it.

“Yes, yes, yes, _yes_! I won’t let you down.”

“Oh no you will.”

“You definitely will.”

“Do your best though.”

“And good luck.”

“I’ll take it.”

With a few more hours of sunlight left, they decided to play on the carousel, followed by the cinema. Sure, they’d already seen the most of the summer movies but there a few so-bad-it’s good that they wanted to watch together. Tikki was learning a lot about modern humans, mostly what made them laugh, but also what they did. Most of it was similar to the Paris she had left, they still strolled, saw shows, ate copious amounts of sweets and street foods. And with the invention of phones, there were more games to play. Still, if she forgot herself for a second, she could see the city she once knew. It was like coming home to an old friend, to Julie.

“Marinette, before we go home, can we visit the Eiffel Tower,” she asked as the boys headed their separate ways.

“I-yeah, sure. Let me text my mom.”

A smile took up half the kwami’s face.

Marinette leaned against the railing of the best view in the city. Tikki sitting on her shoulder, wings still.

“So, did you enjoy today?”

“Oh yes, it was very informative. Paris has…” she got quiet, “changed quite a lot.” Catching herself, she perked up again, “I am happy to be back though.”

Marinette nodded, trying to hide her concern through neutrality. “Let me know if there’s some place you’d like to visit, okay?”

“I will. Thank you, Marinette.”

“No problem, we’re a team.”

The Stars she so missed for centuries were obscured, so the humans let them shine down below through lightning dancing in glass. This was not her city anymore.

But it could be again.


	4. First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the first day of troisieme and Marinette makes a new friend. Just when things look like they're going to be fine, Ivan gets akumatized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to make a whole new way for Ivan to get akumatized so I put the two events together. I know it's been a while, I'm still dealing with transitioning to this new colleges workload though.

They had skipped training the night before to allow Marinette a restful sleep and she’d managed to get up with her second alarm and a call from her mother. Sabine had given her the choice of tofu pudding with brown sugar syrup or a croissant and chocolate. Since her parents were opening the bakery, Tikki had breakfast with her, eating the croissant.

“Are you excited? You don’t look very excited,” said the kwami.

“Just…” she heaved a sigh, “preparing myself for the inevitable.”

“Is it that bully you were talking about?”

“Yup. But at least this year I’ve got Kim _and_ Nino with me.” One elbow on the table, she leaned into her palm. “It’ll be—bearable.”

Tikki frowned, the unhappiness oozing out of her chosen.

“Don’t worry too much about it Tikki, we’ll be fine. I’ve survived this long.”

“And now you’ve got superpowers.”

“Yeah! Come on, let’s get ready.”

She’d chosen to braid her hair for the first day, she would have left it out but last time she’d done that, Chloé had stuck gum in her hair. She didn’t want to wear it in pigtails because she’d have to start being Ladybug at some point and wanted that hairstyle tied to that hero. It was still pretty warm, so she forgoed her usual jeans for a black gathered skirt paired with a pink blouse. “And for confidence, ankle boots,” she said, zipping them up.

Holding open her purse she asked, “Ready?”

“Ready.” Tikki dove in. “I’m so excited for my first day at school.”

Laughing lightly, Marinette grabbed her backpack, it matched the purse, “Yeah? Then maybe I’ll try to outdo myself this year too.”

Nino waited in the bakery for her, enjoying a macaroon with her new pattern that her parents were displaying today.

“Have a great day at school sweetie,” said Tom, handing her a box of macaroons.

“Are you coming home for lunch?” said Sabine, ringing up an order of fresh croissants.

“I’m not sure, probably.”

“See you after school, M. Dupain, Mme. Cheng,” said Nino, following her out of the bakery.

Collège Francois Dupont was an average looking school that really leaned towards the arts, student wise. Marinette was in their Arts and Media program, which meant that when she moved up to their Lycée, she would be able to continue her studies in fashion and fashion journalism. Nino studied classic and modern music, so aside from their general education classes, they wouldn’t be together. But that was still significantly better than last year. Plus, the school was only a few blocks from her home.

The layout was nice, making it a small school, but it still managed to fit a courtyard in the middle of a bustling city. This is to say, the courtyard was surrounded by the building, but roofless. Most of the students were already there, which is where Kim, Mireille, Luka, and Juleka waited for them. Luka practiced a new song, wearing the last summer concert T-shirt from Jagged Stone’s last show. They all went together.

“I found out who we’re all in classes with,” said Mireille, scrolling through her tablet.

“Really, just our classmates,” asked Nino. “Where’s that summer gossip I’ve been waiting for?”

Marinette laughed, sitting beside the blogger. She held the box of macaroons in her lap. “Yeah, Mireille, what’s the scoop?”

“Oh hush, I’m getting to that. Bustier’s class this year has her usual usuals, you, Juleka, Rose, Nathaniel, Max, Kim, Sabrina, and Chloé. With the addition of Ivan, Alix, and Mylène, plus one new student, Alya Césaire. She’s supposed to be in the journalism track. Cool.”

“Always nice to have new members,” said Marinette.

“Now, Max and Rose recently cut their hair. Excited Juleka?”

Juleka flushed as they all grinned at her. “We went together, it’s really cute,” she mumbled.

“Still the sweetest couple in school, I see. Next, Chloé has promised everyone a surprise new student that we are sure to know, but has been surprisingly cagey on the details.”

“Not looking forward to meeting one her friends,” said Marinette.

“But _I’m_ looking forward to writing the story. If there is one to be had. As you know, Aurore and I are competing for an internship at TV1 News. Jean Duparc won a competition to perform on stage with M. Haprèle, good for him. Here we go, Ivan was removed from his last class for altercations and Claude and Allegra broke up.”

“Really, thought they’d make it to Lycée,” said Nino.

“I’m surprised they made it this long,” said Luka. “Guess I’ll find out why in class today.”

Kim jogged in place, eyes on the entrance. “I’m gonna be on that list of gossip too, by the end of the week _at least_.”

“What bet did you make this time?”

“He’s going to ask Chloé on a date,” explained Marinette. “But first he has to talk to her.”

“And I will.”

“Don’t worry Kim, I believe in you,” said Mireille, with a pitying smile.

“At least someone does.”

“Maybe stop jogging though.”

“Can’t stop moving, what if she shows up and I lose my nerve?”

“You’re in the same class, you can talk to her then.”

“I sit in the back,” he groaned.

“There she is,” said Luka.

The blue-eyed blonde queen bee of their school walked into the courtyard closely followed by her lackey Sabrina. Sabrina wore a lavender and aquamarine argyle sweater vest over her white dress shirt with a black bow and cyan shorts, below that were black leggings. Her socks matched her sweater vest. Marinette always thought her look was cute. She carried two bags though, one of them being the new Gabriel purse which was definitely Chloé’s. Speaking of which, Chloé also wore the new Noble yellow denim jacket. Below it was a white top with horizontal black stripes, she also wore white jeans that stopped just below the knee with one of those gaudy gold spike belts. Marinette was glad she chose to wear her hair in a braid today, because Chloé wore a ponytail and she always insisted she be the only one wearing a particular style. The last time someone wore the same look as her and refused to change it was how they got the gum incident. As they neared the group Marinette braced herself.

“What! Wait—what do I say, what do I say?”

“How about good morning,” Luka offered.

“Perfect. Good morn—”

Chloé stopped in front of them, lowering her sunglasses to scowl. “Really Kim, don’t you ever get tired of sweatshirts?”

He laughed nervously. “What can I say they’re part of my look.”

She gave a little huff, eyes passing over the rest of the group. “Lucky you Mireille that cardigans are back in style.” Mireille rolled her eyes. “The Couffaine twins, still in your punk phase.”

“I’m goth,” Juleka corrected.

“Whatever.”

“Nino, basic as usual. That just leave Dupain-Cheng.”

Nino scoffed. Marinette took a deep breath.

“Oh no, didn’t anyone tell you, Peter Pan collars are last season. You’d think an amateur fashion designer would know that. Haven’t you been keeping up with the news?” Sabrina handed her three magazines, one of which was spearheaded by Audrey Bourgeois. “I mean, I guess it would be really nice of me to lend you these. A sign of good sportsmanship and all.”

“What happened to trends being for other people Chloé,” said Mireille.

“Of course, they are, but designers set the trends, and Dupain-Cheng is falling behind. Leave it to you to dress like a prep school princess.”

The first bell rang.

“Darn, looks like we can’t here anymore of those great fashion tips,” said Mireille, quickly gathering her things. “See you all at lunch.”

Marinette just smiled and waved, stepping past the blonde. Nino slung an arm over her shoulders.

“Since this is our last year here, maybe you ought to pull out that book of comebacks and insults for Bourgeois, hm?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really want to stoop to her level. Or talk to her.”

“That’s fair, most people don’t.”

Juleka snickered beside them as Kim mumbled assurances to himself about later.

“Seatmate this year,” Marinette asked.

“Of course. How else am I gonna score the most macaroons?” he joked.

“Good morning children, I hope you had a wonderful summer.”

“Morning Mlle.,” they chimed, heading to their seats. Marinette always sat in the second row by the door, so Nino followed her there.

“Mlle., I brought macaroons for the class.”

“That’s wonderful Marinette, why don’t we leave them here,” she pointed to her desk, “so everyone can take one on their way in?”

Marinette nodded, setting aside two macaroons for her and Nino.

When Chloé walked in she scoffed. “Mlle. Bustier, tell Dupain-Cheng and Lahiffe to get out of my seat.”

“What,” said Bustier. “But Chloé your seat’s up front.”

“And that’s been my seat for three years,” Marinette added, trying to figure out what she was up to.

“Not this year,” said Sabrina. “A special new student is joining our class today.”

“Oh, your ‘surprise guest’” said Nino. “Why can’t you sit with him somewhere else?”

“No, no, no, he’s sitting here,” said Chloé tapping the front left desk, directly in front of Marinette’s seat. “But since Sabrina and I have to sit together, we’ve got to get the seat above. Understand?”

“No because it’s stupid.”

“Mlle. Bustier, you agree with me, don’t you? I’ve got to be near my friend, he’s knew, he’ll need my help.” She pouted, phone out in case she needed to complain to the principal.

“Oh, yes, of course. Nino, why don’t you move down one seat and Marinette, you can have Chloé’s old seat. It’ll be a nice chance for you to make friends with our other new student.”

“But—but,” stammered Marinette.

“No buts Marinette, don’t you want to make a good first impression of our class?”

Her eyes darted around the room looking for a way out of this and when she found none, she sighed. “Of course, Mlle.” She and Nino grabbed their backpacks and their macaroons and moved, with Marinette grabbing an extra one for her new seatmate. Chloé looked on with a smug smile.

“Good. There’s the last bell, door’s closing.”

“Macaroon,” Marinette whispered as class started.

The new girl nodded. Her hair was this really cool reddish-brown ombre that fell in waves and she wore plaid. “I’m Alya.”

“Marinette. I like your top.”

“Thanks, you too.”

They glanced over at Bustier as she went over the lesson plan for the day and what this year would look like.

“So, that girl’s the worst right,” whispered Alya.

“Tell me about it. I can’t seem to escape her.”

“Oof. My mom works for her dad’s hotel.”

“That’s terrible.” She wrote a few notes from what she heard, keeping most of her attention on Alya. “Did you know she went here before you transferred.”

“I wouldn’t have come here if I did. She almost got my mom fired.”

“Sounds like Chloé, yeah.”

“Deal with her together?”

Marinette glanced up at the pouting blonde as she watched the empty seat in front of her. A disappointed Chloé meant she’d drag everyone down with her.

“Deal.”

After Bustier they had chemistry with Mendeleiev. Mendeleiev had her seating list up on the board.

“Welcome to our school Ms. Césaire. I trust your last school should be at the same stage as us, but if not, I do expect you to catch up. If you have any questions, please feel free to direct them to me or my student assistant, Rose Lavillant.”

Rose, the petite blonde in pink grinned at her. “We’re so glad to have you here. What track are you in?”

“Journalism.”

Rose frowned, “ _Just_ journalism? Not maybe music or STEM?”

“Yup, just journalism.”

“Well that’s okay. You’ll still be able to dip into all of them. Just ask Marinette.”

“Pardon,” asked the girl in question, a little panicked.

“Guess what Marinette, Alya’s in the journalism track with you.”

“And me,” chimed Chloé. “Small world, huh?”

“This school keeps getting worse,” Alya whispered to Marinette before finding her seat.

The two were already coordinating schedules and had traded contact information during _récré_ , with Marinette introducing her to the rest of their friends. They decided to have lunch in the canteen. Marinette went over their schedules. “Cool, we’ve got all of our journalism classes together.”

“And biology. Not looking forward to dissection,” said Alya, gagging.

“But Alya, that’s what a journalist does,” teased Mireille. “Hey Kim, is the pool open yet?”

“No, but hey, swim team starts practice next week. Alya, wanna join?”

“I’m good. I like my pool time to be leisurely. How do I get access to the school blog?”

“Oh, I’ll take care of that,” said Mireille, swiping on her phone. “Would you like to join the broadcast club, or the newspaper?”

“Chloé’s not on the newspaper, is she?”

“Nope. She’s got her own side thing. Speaking of which, you’ll need to have a project for the year. It could be a blog, a magazine, as long as it can classify as journalism. That way when you move up to the Lycée you’ve got something to help you with internships.”

“Sounds like a lot of pressure. Then it’ll have to be something good.”

“You’ve got a month to decide,” offered Marinette, hoping it would ease the pressure.

“Well it sounds like I picked a bad year to transfer. What’s your project on?”

“I’ve got a food and fashion blog, and a dress I’m going to start soon for a show at the end of the semester.”

“I’m making perfumes,” said Rose. “And maybe, if we can, Juleka and I are starting a band.”

“If that works out, then we just need two concerts before the year ends,” said Juleka, over her juice.

“And an album,” added Luka.

“I’m looking for an internship,” said Mireille.

“DJing,” said Nino.

“I’m exempt because I’m still on the swim team. Though Max told me he’s making a robot and a game.”

“Will he never cease to amaze us,” said Mireille. “You know, you could do a story on the school. We’ve got a lot of exceptional students.”

“Maybe. How many people have done that before though?”

Mireille shrugged, “A couple, probably. But what matters is your execution.”

Alya frowned.

“You’ll think of something.”

Suddenly Rose squealed, bouncing in her seat. “Look, he’s doing it.” She pointed across the room to Ivan walking up to Mylene. She sat with Alix, Nathaniel, and Max.

“Doing what,” asked Marinette. She couldn’t hear them from where they sat.

“He’s finally confessing. Remember, he’s had a crush on her since last year,” Rose clarified.

The room got quiet as more people began to notice. Ivan was singing. Poorly and loudly. Mylene looked distressed, covering her eyes and running away. At this, one of the attendants headed over, Alix was already telling Ivan off for scaring her friend and chased after Mylene as soon as the attendant neared them.

“That’s enough Mr. Bruel, to the principal’s office.”

“But—”

“Go.”

Half the canteen erupted with laughter. Marinette was shrinking just from the secondhand embarassment. Luka, Juleka, and Rose ran off to see if they could catch up to Ivan and at least calm him down before he saw Damocles while Marinette tried to enjoy her dessert. Today it was two clementine but she’d brought an extra treat from the bakery for Tikki, the kwami had probably finished them by now. The three came back running, Rose crying and Damocles had sounded the fire alarm.

“Please evacuate calmly,” called the attendants.

“What happened,” Nino asked.

“It’s Ivan, he turned into some kind of boulder monster,” cried Rose.

“It was kind of cool, but like, how,” said Juleka.

“He did _what_ —” said Alya. “Now this is a story.”

First chance she got; Marinette split away from the group as they evacuated the school. A stone giant burst through Damocles wall and jumped down, the ground shook. It began to smash against the foundational walls of the school, roaring. Marinette opened her purse. “Tikki, which one of the other kwamis turns people into monsters?”

She wiped cookie crumbs off her face. “He’s been turned into an akuma. You’ve got to transform.”

“Right.”

“Marinette,” called Nino. “Come on, we’ve got to get away from here before this place collapses.” He pulled her in the direction of the bakery.

“Oh, but I—” she was cut off more crashing, this time coming from a few blocks over, she could hear fire sirens in the distance and caught smoke on the air. “What’s going on?”


	5. Stoneheart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the dead of night, a darkly clad masked vigilante arrives to save the 3rd Arrondissement's Pletzl. And despite her best efforts, Hawkmoth still finds out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've just had Paris, France open on google maps for the past couple of days. Marinette live sin Place des Vosges in the Arsenal country of Paris's 4th arrondissement, with a wonderful view of the Notre Dame Cathedral, as seen in the show, which miraculously helped place where her house is despite the rest of Paris being broken in the show. But hey, you get two new chapters today.

Before she knew it, the whole city was running away. And she knew it was the whole city too because all of the news feeds and broadcasts were taken over by some guy with a face painted blue who spoke through a 50’s microphone, at least his bowtie had a smiley face on it. They showed them the damage being down by themselves and Ivan and some woman made of fire for two days straight before finally making their announcement.

“ _Bonjour_ Paris, I am live from the top of the Eiffel Tower here to deliver a message from the one and only Hawkmoth.”[1]

“I can’t understand him over that shitty microphone,” Nino whispered to her, trying to lighten the mood and maybe to get her to stop gripping his hand as they watched the feed from her living room. She gave him a small, tense half-smile.

The feed switched over to a man in a silver helmet and purple suit. He was surrounded by butterflies and held a cane. Marinette squinted at the screen, trying to figure out where he was, the lighting in the dark room at least let her know that there was a large ornate window there and all the butterflies were glowing. _Is that a brooch?_ she thought, looking at his collar.

“Good afternoon, Paris. I am Hawkmoth,” his voice was commanding, but she could hear a strain to it. “You are probably wondering why your city is on fire, why a young boy turned to a stone monster, and why all communication has been taken over. You can thank my associates Incendium, Stoneheart, and the Broadcaster for this. They’ve done their jobs well so far. Worry not though, this can come to an end soon. You see, I am a collector of certain jewelry, they have powers beyond human capabilities and I know they are somewhere here in Paris. If you or someone you know is in possession of a Miraculous—” here the screen split to show drawings of different animal themed jewelry and for a second, Marinette could feel Tikki’s fear. She saw her earrings in their awakened form on screen as was glad everyone’s eyes were on the screen.

“Bring them to me. Then, all of this will end.”

The feed switched; Broadcaster grinned. “You heard the man, let’s get out there and search, search, search. Or who knows what will happen to Paris.” They shrugged. “I, of course, will be here twenty-four seven to update you as the story progresses. But first, a quick word from our sponsors.”

A commercial played where Broadcaster played all of the characters. Sabine switched the feed off.

“This is terrible,” said Tom.

Sabine pulled away, pressing a hand to her heart. “I know…Nino, you should still be able to call your parents through the landline, why don’t you tell them you’re on your way with treats.”

“Sure thing, Auntie S.”

Marinette ran up to her room. She couldn’t call or text Master Fu what with the Broadcaster holding cell towers and Wi-Fi hostage. Even if she could, it would still put the old man in danger. She just needed to transform and sneak out. Except she didn’t know where the Broadcaster was watching from.

“Hey Nette, I’m heading out,” Nino called up.

“Wait, I’ll come with you.” She pulled on a black hoodie and grabbed her purse, Tikki hopping in. Lucky her she kept her computer camera covered when she wasn’t using it. She left her phone on the desk.

“Here, take these. It’s got everyone’s favorites.” Sabine handed Nino a box of assorted treats in the box they usually reserved for croissants.

“Cool thanks. I’ll call as soon as I get home.”

“And _you_ head back as soon he walks through the door,” Tom told Marinette.

“Of course, Papa. I’ll be quick.”

They hugged the two teens before letting them go.

Despite the chaos, the street was still busy. People were running in and out of buildings screaming, calling for their family and friends, trying to smash the surveillance cameras. They passed a jewelry store being robbed, and a few scattered police cars with no idea what to prioritize without the ability to contact for backup. They ran. Marinette waited outside Nino’s apartment building, he said he’d be back down to tell her everyone was there. She watched the cameras moving. An electronic advertisement flickered from a new cologne to a cartoon map of the city with Stoneheart, Incendium, and the Broadcaster. Stoneheart and Incendium were constantly moving, Stoneheart, having destroyed Dupont, went after jewelry stores and banks, many civilians following suit. Incendium had a ring of fire surrounding the 5th, 7th, 13th, 14th, and 15th arrondissements. If she had a chance of stopping anyone, it would be Stoneheart. She didn’t know what his akumatized object was, but at least she knew Ivan.

“We’re all clear up here, Nette. You should head back.”

She nodded, “Right. See you when all this is over.”

Marinette unplugged every electronic that could pick up audio or video in her room, packing a short sleeve of chocolate chip cookies for Tikki. She snuck out while her parents slept, transformed in the covert, ladybird version of her costume.

“Sleeping citizens of Paris, Stoneheart, with your help, has gone through every jewelry store and bank in the city, and while this is a great time for the Parisian underworld, not so great for the rest of you. Once the clock strikes six, my sleeping stone friend will be breaking down your houses in search for the jewelry. Hawkmoth is a very impatient man; you’d better find what he’s looking for.”

Then a soda ad played where Broadcaster was again, all of the characters.

Quietly apologizing for destroying public property, she used her yo-yo to smash the nearby surveillance cameras that the civilians hadn’t already gotten too. She found him in the remains of C Jewelers[2], snoring in a bend of diamonds. His left fist was clenched shut but sleeping in his right was—

“Mylène,” Ladybug gasped.

The girl gripped a shopping bag in her hand, wearing the outfit Marinette had last seen her in. She crept over and tapped the sleeping teen, raising a figure to her own lips so she wouldn’t react.

“Who are you? Can you help me?” she whispered.

“I’m gonna try. How long have you been here?”

“A day. He gave me this,” she held out her wrist to show a diamond encrusted gold bracelet with a flower made from sapphires. “Please, can you turn him back. He’s a friend from school.”

“I understand. Can you tell me his name?”

“Ivan Bruel.”

Ladybug nodded, she stepped back, looking for something to cause a distraction. She needed to surprise Ivan enough that he would let Mylène go, then she could see about find his akumatized object. _He’s not wearing anything…I think, so it’s likely in his other fist. What did Tikki say I could do again? Summon things._ Surveying her surroundings, she tried to figure how best to go about this while keeping them both safe and while keeping things out of the Broadcaster’s feed. _Or maybe it would be better to take out the Broadcaster first, they’re Hawkmoth’s eyes and ears, right?_ But Mylène and Ivan needed her. She tapped the front face of her yo-yo, hitting the middle dot twice.[3] Out dropped three Bug Bombs. She swung her yo-yo, wrapping it around a post and hooking the other end to the torn part of the chain link covering from when the shop owners tried to close. Ladybug rolled the first bomb in. Mylène’s scream woke Ivan who stumbled out, roaring. She rolled the second one past him, the explosion forcing him forward and he tripping on her yo-yo wire, both hands opening.

She caught Mylène.

“Look, he dropped something.” She pointed to a paper ball on the carpet of shattered glass.

“Thanks, you better get home. I’ll take it from here.”

“Mylène,” roared Stoneheart as the girl ran off.

“I’m sorry Ivan,” she cried behind her shoulder.

He made to rise. Ladybug ran, undoing one end of her yo-yo to wrap him in it. He knocked her and it away.

Grunting, ran for the paper ball as he lurched towards Mylène. Shooting her yo-yo out, she wrapped it around his right leg and tugged as hard as she could, he collapsed.

“I know you’re hurting right now Ivan, but you need to relax. Mylène might listen to you when you’re calmer.”

He glared at her, grabbing the wire and yanking it forward. She went flying. Lucky for her, the wings in her cape activated.

“I know I’m bugged themed, but that was uncalled for.” She flew circled around his head, keeping him distracted from going after Mylène. “Why aren’t you turning back yet?”

_You have to catch his akuma. Destroy the paper ball._

“Tikki? R-right, of course.”

Dodging Stoneheart’s swatting, she attempted to open the ball and tear the paper. But it was hard as stone. She flew off, she’d have to break it away from him.

People were waking up from the commotion though and Stoneheart was mad.

“Get out of here.”

“Leave that girl alone.”

“Go away, haven’t you destroyed enough?”

The people threw they things out their winds and with every hit, Stoneheart grew bigger and stronger. Ladybug had to act fast, she threw the akumatized object down on a roof and when that didn’t break it, she stepped on it. A pained roar cracked through the air as the black butterfly flow out and Stoneheart bubbled down into Ivan. She caught the butterfly in her yo-yo and flew down to help Ivan and keep anything from hitting him.

“Ivan Bruel? How are you feeling?”

He held his head, moaning. “What’s going on? Where’s Damocles?”

“It’s been…a tough two days. I’ll take you home, okay.”

“Okay.”

He slammed his fists against his office desk, watching Broadcaster’s feed of this dark clad hero defeating his akuma. Only one camera was still up on that street, so he only had one angle. He couldn’t see their face but by the weapons displayed, that was definitely the Ladybug Miraculous in use. “No, no, this is good. It means I was right. The Guardian is indeed in Paris somewhere.” He grunted at a sharp pain in his arms. “I’ll have to wait before I can talk to Broadcaster again. At least two is easier to control.”

Once Ivan was home safe and his parents assured that he would be fine as long as he remained calm, she left to purify the akuma and find that paper ball again.

“Looks like Ivan wanted to confess his love through song,” she said, dropping her transformation in a blind spot.

“Aw that’s so sweet. Wait, should we be reading this?”

“Nope. I need to grab an envelope and drop this off at Mylène’s.”

“I can do that, hold out your palm.” Tikki vomited up a ball of glowing pink goo into Marinette’s palm, when the light faded, it was an envelope.

Marinette shivered. “Thanks.”

“You're welcome.”

She dug through her purse for a pen and wrote To Mylène From Ivan, copying his handwriting.

Once enough people had ran past the ally, declaring that a masked vigilante had stopped that monster, she left, assimilating into a small crowd and breaking off a few blocks later. She was glad she had a treat to drop off too, though Tikki was not happy about giving up her cookies. “I’ll make you a dozen more,” she promised.

Her father opened the door. “Marinette, what are you doing out at this hour? During all of this?”

“I’m sorry M. Harpèle. I have something for Mylène and it cannot wait.”

“Well, she did just make it back home herself. But please, come inside. Do your parents know you’re here?”

“No. Please don’t tell them.”

He frowned at her.

Her smile was smug as she sat down on their couch. “I’ll deliver a fresh batch of croissants in the morning, baker’s honor.”

“Throw in a loaf brioche and you’ve got a deal.”

“Done.”

“Mylène, someone’s here to see you!”

“Is it Ivan?!”

“Come see!” He turned to Marinette. “She’ll be right with you.”

She walked out in her pajamas.

“Oh, Marinette. What are you doing here?”

“Um…I have something for you. I found it when I went back to get my bag from school.”

“That was so dangerous.”

“Yeah, well—” she laughed nervously “I needed it. And these are also for you, thought you might need a treat. That’s a cute bracelet.”

“This? I forgot all about it. Ivan gave it to me.” She gasped. “I really hope he’s okay. Why do think he turned into that—that thing? Are we going to turn into monsters too if that Hawkmoth guy doesn’t get what he wants?”

“I don’t know. I’ll be going around delivering pastries to everyone in our class, sans Chloé, in the morning. I’ll check on his parents, yeah?”

“If…you’re sure. Thank you.”

“Happy to help. By the way, I didn’t know you could raise your voice.”

They laughed.

“Only with my dad.”

Marinette nodded. “I better head back in case my parents wake up. Don’t tell anyone I was hear. Bye.” She left, jogging down the hall.

“Good night.”

In the morning, despite how tired she was, she did just as she promised. Taking her bike to deliver pastries. Paris still needed her bread after all.

“Marinette, is that you?” Alya called from her bedroom balcony.

“You live here?”

“Yeah. What ya doing? Can I come?! It’s been impossibly frustrating cooped up with my sisters.”

“What?!”

“Let me get my bike.”

Marinette waited, she had to bike around a pile of cars anyways.

“So, what are you doing girl?”

“I’m doing deliveries for my parents’ bakery. If I’d known you lived around here, I would have brought you something.”

“No need, mom gets to bring home stuff from the hotel. So, where you headed?”

“Nino’s, then Ivan’s.”

“You mean that boy who turned into a monster?”

“I’m going to check on his parents.”

“Oh, that’s so nice of you.”

The Bruel family were absolutely delighted to see Ivan’s friends coming to check on them and him.

“Thanks for coming Marinette and um…”

“Alya.”

He nodded. “I don’t really remember what happened though.”

“That’s alright. We just wanted to make sure you were alright.”

His lips curled and brows furrowed in concentration. “I remember there was this woman in black with red spots, she helped me get back home.”

“Black and red spots,” Marinette pretended to be shocked. “I did hear something about a vigilante though.”

“Interesting. But back to what we do know, are you gonna try and confess to Mylène again?” Alya had a shipper’s enthusiasm.

He blushed. “How do you know about that?”

“Rose told us when you went to do it. So, are you?”

“She ran away though,” he mumbled.

“Yeah, that is a bad sign.”

“I think—” started Marinette, “that you should start small, if you do try again. When all of this is over. Just, ask her to have lunch together. You can’t go wrong with a note.”

“A note? Yeah, maybe that’s a better start. I’ll…think about it. Thanks.”

“I didn’t realize you were a romantic expert,” Alya teased. “Got any tips for me?”

Marinette laughed. “I just think it would make sense, Mylène doesn’t like loud noises. Anyways, we’re headed to Rose’s. Remember her?”

“Perky, petite blonde with goth girlfriend, yeah. Lead the way.”

Rose played with her little brother Percy. The one-year-old giggled, asking her to play peekaboo again and again.

“Ivan’s back to normal, that amazing. But how?”

“He said there’s was this vigilante who saved him, she wore black with red spots,” Alya said. “I hope she shows up again. Maybe I can ask her what she knows about all of this.”

“W-well, there’s still three bad guys left right?”

“Supervillains,” Alya corrected.

“S-supervillains?”

“Yup. I’ve been refreshing my memory on everything we know about superheroes and supervillains and since the villains have shown up, the hero has to and I want to meet.”

“How are you going to interview her when we can’t even trust our phones,” said Rose.

Alya waved it off with a chuckle, “We never could. But regardless, I’ve got that covered.”

“Well then I’m looking forward to what you find out. I want to thank her for helping Ivan.”

Percy was getting fed up now, tugging on her skirt. “Woes, again!”

“Sorry Percy. Peekaboo.”

He burst into a fit of giggles, trying to tell her to do it again. They left the Lavillant siblings to it.

All the screens in the city crackled to life again as Broadcaster introduced their boss, Hawkmoth.

“Last night one of my associates was taken down by some masked vigilante. But not just any masked vigilante, a miraculous user.” A slightly blurry picture of what could be a woman in black with a red yo-yo flew around Stoneheart followed by another of her helping Ivan up. This was not going to be good for Ivan. “If anyone knows the whereabouts of identity of this woman, turn her in to my associates at the Eiffel Tower by the end of the day or Incendium’s ring will grow.”

“ _Super_ -supervillain. What a creep. That woman was the only one who could do anything to help Ivan,” Alya snapped.

“Yeah. But maybe you’re right, maybe she’ll show up again to stop them all.”

“I hope so.”

He dropped into his desk with labored breathing, his assistant set a glass of water down beside his lunch.

“Is my son still in his room?”

“He’s been glued to the tv all day. He’s very excited that Paris might have its very own superhero,” she said in practiced monotone.

He huffed. “As long as it keeps him put. If all goes well, this will be over soon.”

“Of course, Sir.”

[1] The broadcaster sounds like Tom Kenny and works like a 90s and early 200s Cartoon Network Villain. Think Control Freak from Teen Titans (2003).

[2] K Jewelers reference

[3] Honey Lemon reference.


	6. The Ring of Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug enters the ring of fire. Smoke chokes the air.

She snuck back out immediately after getting home, flying over the Seine into the ring of fire. The buildings within the ring weren’t ablaze, but the smoke forced her out of the air. She knew enough from Mendeleiev’s lessons and history that the smoke blacked out the sun here. Coughing, she ducked into and alleyway, tapping her yo-yo, the middle spot twice, the right top spot once. Out came a red face mask with black spots. She pulled her hood over her head tighter.

“I’ve got to stop all of this, and fast.”

Broadcaster sung on a screen not too far from her. “Tik tock goes the clock, if that little dark spot on Hawkmoth’s plans doesn’t show when she should—” an animation of the city ablaze play.

“Stop reminding me,” she grumbled. She ran for the Eiffel Tower where she would put this fire out.

Broadcaster grinned, watching their screens. “Well my dear, she’s not here yet. But a little someone is headed towards us now. Shall I ring the boss?”

The flame woman nodded. Her entire form was fire except for her black cord necklace with a fake blue gem dangling from it. Despite its continued presence on her flaming neck, it didn’t burn. She was red hot though, and Ladybug didn’t want to get too close to either of them, flame retardant costume or not. She shut her yo-yo, closing the close-up of them.

“Okay LB, think, think,” she told herself, “there’s got to be a way to separate them.”

She looked around. Broadcaster watched everything from the city cameras. _If they’re distracted enough, maybe I can lure Incendium away, can’t imagine someone so hot headed is very calm. But I can’t risk the civilians._ She hadn’t even seen anyone on the streets, they were all trapped in their homes. And how was she even supposed to distract Broadcaster?

“Citizens of Paris! You’ll never believe what has happened. While last night’s vigilante hasn’t shown her face yet, a little red bug has. Could they be the same person? Or are more than one miraculous in use? Whichever outcome it is, I am here to show you exactly how Incendium deals with them.”

It was clear she was running out of time and she didn’t want the fire to get any closer to the homes, so she made her stance on the banks of that lake left of the tower. She only saw Incendium by her light, her heat indistinguishable from the wall of fire trapping them in.

“You have something I want,” she hissed, voice crackling.

“So, I’ve been told.”

Her wide smile was a line of red flames. She held out a hand. “Well then? Don’t you want to stop all this?”

“Yes.” She threw up her yo-yo, “Lucky Charm.”

Broadcaster gasped, “Citizens, the mysterious lady in red just cast a spell. Now she’s got a blanket. What’s she going to do with that?”

Ladybug dove into the water.

“What, does she think Incendium will follow her in. A fire that hot cannot be stopped. Look, she’s boiling the water. Will the bug burn out?”

At the first feel of heat Ladybug was ready to jump out, but she waited, sticking to the sides, as the steam rose and Incendium cackled above.

“Come on, I know you’re boiling down there. I can keep this up all day if I have too.” She stood in the grass, it curled to ashes beneath her feet. Then something snagged around her ankle and yanked her in screaming.

Ladybug dragged the heavy wet blanket over Incendium to keep her from swimming up as the fire fizzled out on her skin. She grabbed the necklace and snapped the black cord in half, not rising out of the water until the black butterfly did. Tikki’s voice urged her to catch it, so she grabbed the blanket, freeing Incendium from its weight. The former flame fought to keep down though. If she couldn’t burn her, she would drown her.

“My, my, my, what could be taking them so long down there? Zoom and enhance,” called the Broadcaster. “Oh no, is that a little black butterfly I see? Has my darling flame gone out?”

A pale hand broke the surface of the water. A redheaded woman in a black dress dragged herself out of the water, grumbling. Smoke rose off her and her skin had been burned from the water. She couldn’t ignite herself again. Couldn’t feel Hawkmoth’s presence.

“Le gasp. Quick, catch your butterfly,” Broadcaster yelled.

Her head snapped up and she scrambled after it. A yo-yo shot past her though, it’s face split like a ladybug’s wings and she caught a glimpse of pink light as her salvation was trapped inside.

Ladybug stood coughing on the other side of the water. “Bye—bye, little butterfly,” she said in broken breaths. The woman that was Incendium passed out, her body felt too heavy and cold suddenly. The smoke in the air didn’t help. Ladybug found the blanket she had summoned and threw it up in the air. “Miraculous Ladybug!”

A swarm of red ladybugs erupted exploded from the black spotted red blanket and swept across the ruined Paris. The smoke and fire just disappeared, the destroyed homes and buildings were rebuilt. She and the victim were healed.

“It’s beautiful,” Ladybug breathed.

Broadcaster glared, “You forget, I control the schedules here. The show’s not over until I say so and I say you’re cancelled. Feedback.” Their mic spat out a squeal and her hands shot up to her ears. She couldn’t hear her earrings beep.

Breathing ragged still, she swung her yo-yo in a circle, powering it up. She had wondered what exactly the akumatized object was for the Broadcaster. It was either their tie, or…their microphone. Body tired and sore with the memory of boil burns, she didn’t have time to second guess. It was the microphone or nothing. She shot her shot, propelling forward to the Eiffel Tower. “Sonic Wave,” Broadcaster cried out. They would have sent her flying if her yo-yo wasn’t attached to the Tower. Swinging around to the top floor and catching them by surprise with a kick. They kept a tight grip on their microphone, and she turned her yo-yo into staff. She charged them, keeping close, forcing them to dance around her so they wouldn’t get a chance to hit her with another wave. The steps were a mix of uppercuts and horizontal strikes, forward thrusts and grounded blocks. The microphone, she was sure it was real, which meant it would be harder to break, even with her magic helping her strength. So… _I need to knock it off_ , she decided.

Her earrings beeped again and this time, she heard it. Broadcaster saw she was distracted and took advantage of that, sweeping under her feet. Her wings reacted before she did and she was glad, once again, that she decided on them, as she knocked aside the microphone, hitting it again so it fell of the edge of the tower.

“No,” screamed the Broadcaster.

She dropped down after it, readying her yo-yo. The little black butterfly flew up, snatched away by her yo-yo. She breathed a sighed of relief as Tikki purified it, setting bluish-white one free in its place. “Bye-bye, little butterfly.”

Hitting the ground running, she managed to get into the woody area of the park before her transformation dropped. At least no one else was around.

Tikki flew out of the air. “That was too close.”

“I know.” She opened the sleeve of cookies and they had a snack. With communications back up, the police were sure to arrive soon. “And it’s a one-hour and _fourteen_ -minute walk home from here.”

“At least we can see the sun set.”

“Yeah and they get to too.” She smiled up at the sky, pulling her hood over her head. “Hey Tikki, the Miracle Cure brings people back to life, right?”

“Yes,” she said, helping herself to another cookie. “If they died because of a miraculous power.”

“Cool, cool. Just wanted to make sure.”

“Father, are you alright?”

He’d overexerted himself with three akumas, especially with Incendium and Broadcaster’s powers. At least he could take the brooch off again, hidden in his locked drawer.

“I’m fine, just a little tired.”

He nodded, waiting in the doorway. “The-the principal called, or well, I called the principal.” A nervous laugh escaped his lips. “Phones are back up.”

“Not this again.”

“Please Father. It’s close by and Andrew can drive me home right after.”

“You’re doing perfectly well in your studies here. And it’s safe.”

“I don’t care about that. I just…want to feel like a normal kid. Chloé’s there and she’s my only friend.”

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “We will discuss them when I am feeling better.”

“Of course, Father.” Sulking, he stalked off.

His secretary handed him a pain killer and a glass of water. “You know, he could be useful to your endeavors,” she said.

“I am not telling him—” he started, wincing at his own raised voice.

She shook her head. “You don’t need to.”

“So what? You want me to send him out there, the place we’re attacking.”

She arched a brow.

“Don’t give me that look. You’re an accomplice.” He sipped his water, the glass a cold relief against his lips. He’d been scowling too much. He could feel his wrinkles. “I will not turn my son into a monster.”

She glanced at the portrait of his wife, holding back her thoughts even from herself.

“However, his presence at a school is sure to drum up intense negative emotions.” He sighed, running a hand down his face. “I’ll think about it.”

Nodding, she left the room. He set the glass down on a coaster. The painting watched him, amused smile mocking him. He dreamed of those eyes. Once, he had dreamed of making her that dress. The sketches waited in his desk drawer even now.

“When you return,” he promised, voice soft. 


	7. The Mystery Lady Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hawkmoth hasn't reared his shiny head since the defeat of the Broadcaster. School reopens but things are far from normal. For one, Alya is dedicating her senior project to the search of that mystery woman. Chloe's secret friend arrived, as if one rich white blonde wasn't enough. Marinette just hopes her hero stuff can remain a covert operation.

Dupont didn’t open again for a week, just to make sure. Ivan had to undergo counseling for the remainder of the year as the President and the Mayor tried to assure everyone that this wouldn’t happen again, though they didn’t know why it happened in the first place. And then things were just…back to normal. She still met with Master Fu and hung out with her friends, Tikki was learning how to use her computer since her phone required fingers and…well…kwami didn’t really have fingers. She didn’t want to think about it.

It was a chilly day, the forecast promised rain. Marinette dressed in a pink sweater and black jeans, with dark blue, ankle Wellingtons. She put a pink, white polka-dot umbrella in her backpack and headed off to school with her hair up in a loose bun. She still carried her purse, Tikki liked hanging out in it.

“Morning Nette,” said Nino at the stairs.

“Hey. Happy to be back?”

He took a deep breath, smile dropping to a disgusted scowl. “Maybe. It’s better than doing chores around the house.”

“And practicing piano for an hour each day.”

“Oof, right. Think we should tell our parents we don’t want to play piano anymore?”

“I will if you do.”

“Nette no, that’s not how this goes.”

“Come on Nino, stand up to your parents. Be my role model.” She giggled walking through the door, pumping her fists up and down. “Inspire me, Music Boy.”

“I’m not even _my_ role model.”

Snickering, they walked up to Alya interviewing Mylène.

“She didn’t tell me her name. But I’d really like to thank her for saving Ivan and I.”

“Do you remember what she looked like?” said Alya, holding her phone closer.

“Um, it was dark, and she was wearing all black. But I-I _think_ , she had blue bangs.”

Mireille wrote that down. “All black, blue bangs.”

“With red dots, remember those pictures,” Alya added.

“Right, right.”

“What’s going on,” asked Marinette. Luka handed her a paper cup with the words CHAI written in red sharpie on the holder.

Mireille waved at them; her latte perched on the bench by her bag. “Hey. I’m helping Alya research that masked vigilante.”

“If she shows up again, I can do my project on her and also it would just be the coolest thing ever to meet a real-life superhero!”

“Totally,” said Nino, taking his coffee from Luka. “What do you think she calls herself?”

Alya tapped her chin, “I’m not sure, she showed up twice…I think. If the lady in black and the lady in red are two different people, they probably work together. What if we could get an interview with a crime fighting _duo_?”

“Now that would be big,” said Mireille. “Maybe if we go over the footage, we can find clues to who they are.”

“And I can thank her,” added Mylène.

The three discussed how they were going to go about finding her. It seemed like she came out of thin air, just to save them from Hawkmoth, another piece of Alya’s story. Nino asked Luka if he was sure it was his day to bring something for their morning meetup and Marinette was in the middle of getting her planner from her bag when Ivan walked up to her. She glanced over at Mylène who tried to hide her blush by fanning herself with her shirt collar.

“Uh, Marinette,” said Ivan. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure.”

They moved closer to the locker rooms and he tapped his fingers, searching for the right words.

“I, um, took your advice and apologized to Mylène for scaring her. She said I gave her a bracelet and-I-um…I wanted to ask for your help in making her a replacement one—if it’s not too much trouble I mean.” He squeaked out that last part, she wasn’t aware he could get so quiet.

“Yeah, Ivan. I’d be happy too.”

Relief washed over him as his shoulders relaxed.

“Thank you so much.”

“We should be able to work on it in M. Droit’s class. He’s got a lot of great materials for it.”

Ivan nodded, pricking up at a commotion by the entrance.

Chloé walked in, this time in a yellow cardigan and white jeans, clinging to another blonde, this one green-eyed with purposefully mussed hair wearing Gabriel from head to toe, Sabrina following dutifully behind them.

“I guess that’s her surprise friend,” Marinette said.

“And that’s Dupain-Cheng, you can ignore her, she’s not really worth my attention,” Chloé smirked wickedly.

Ivan clenched his fists at his sides as Marinette flushed in anger. “Not cool, Chloé,” said Ivan.

“Oh, and that’s Ivan. You probably saw him on the news turning into that big scary monster. How Damocles allowed you back, I’ll never know.”

Ivan growled.

Chloé smiled. Her voice sing-song sweet, “If you touch me, you’ll get expelled.”

He huffed and stomped off. Mylène followed him.

“Come on Adrikins, I’ve got to show you our classroom.”

She dragged him along and he waved to Marinette. She rolled her eyes and headed back to the group.

“Oh, great there’s two of them,” said Nino.

“And you sit next to one of them,” said Marinette.

“No, I sit _between_ them. Am I being punished?” He pressed a hand to his chest in mock shock and they laughed.

“Yes, for every missed day of practice,” said Luka.

“Six missed lessons aren’t worth this. Besides, they’ve just got us memorizing songs now, I might as well be a master.”

“We could just change seats,” offered Alya. “Will Bustier really do anything to us?”

“Only if Chloé makes a fuss,” said Nino, arms crossed.

“And she will.”

“We could tell her she’s cursed and start pranking her,” Juleka suggested.

“See Juleka, that’s why you’re my favorite,” said Mireille. “Let’s do it.”

Juleka smile, cheeks red.

“You’re just saying that for the story,” said Luka, brow arched.

She scoffed, “Of course not. I just love supporting student revolutions.”

“Obviously, we can’t let her know we’re the ones pranking her, if we go throw with this,” said Alya.

“Yeah. Would rather not have to deal with whatever story she spins for Damocles and her dad,” added Marinette.

“Plus, we’d just be giving her ammo,” said Nino.

“Then what if we all just don’t sit in our usual seats,” chimed Rose. “Like, Ivan can sit in Nino’s seat and Juleka and I can take Chloé’s, or maybe Alix should, she’s not afraid of her.”

“I’m not afraid of her,” Juleka mumbled.

“We’d all have to be early though,” said Nino.

“And all on board,” said Marinette, already planning the private group chat to help the execution. “Besides, what are we gonna do, convince Bustier to keep this new seating schedule until Chloé balks and goes back to her old seat? How would we even do that? Use the fact that Chloé’s obviously a bad student against her and that, having another friend sitting right in front of her will make it much harder for her to focus and be the good student Bustier is always telling us to be?”

“Yeah, something like that,” said Mireille. “And who knows Bustier best then her star pupil?”

“What—no, I can’t do that? You want me to _lie_. There’s no way,” she blurted.

“Won’t be lying if we base it off of how today goes,” said Nino. “Plus, she might listen to you.”

“She didn’t even listen to me last time.”

Alya jumped in with “We’ll help you with your argument. I’m great at negotiations, I’ve got three sisters.”

“You can do it Marinette, we believe in you,” said Rose.

“If-if you’re all sure.”

Thus, the plan was made and relayed to the rest of their class in the aforementioned private group chat. It gave Alya a chance to relearn everyone’s names.

“Hi, Adrien, Adrien Agreste.” He held out his hand to Nino as Bustier started the day with a civics lesson.

Nino had his elbow perched on the table, chin in the nest of his palm, half paying attention as the rest of his coffee grew cold. “I don’t associate with Chloé’s friends.”

“What?”

“ _Adrien_ , just because you are new here doesn’t mean you can talk during lessons,” said Bustier. “Please, wait until break to make friends.”

“O-of course Mlle., my apologies.”

Snickering floated down from the back and his cheeks went pink.

Marinette had to run off during break so he hung out in the library with Kim while doing his civics and French homework as the swimmer went on and on about that guy Chloé was clinging to, his resolve to make a move growing with each angry rhetorical sentence he blurted out about their assumed relationship. Nino just nodded, throwing in the occasional “Uh-huh” and “Yeah dude, totally.” He did feel for Kim, but maybe a love rival was just what he needed. Or this crush would finally wither and die like they all hoped.

“I know what you’re thinking, and it probably won’t,” said Max, reading ahead for Mendeleiev’s chemistry class.

“I can dream, can’t I?”

He huffed a laugh, flipping a page.

“What’s his name again,” Kim blurted.

“Who’s,” asked Nino.

“That guy. The one Chloé’s with.”

“Adrien Agreste.” He drummed his mech pencil against the textbook.

“I’m gonna fight him.”

“Please don’t,” said Max.

“Wait, shut up,” said Nino, holding a hand up. His focus on Kim. “Now, normally I’d let you go through with this because it would be really funny, and I can record it. But I need you think about this, like, _really_ think. You sure you want to beat up a rich kid?”

“Yes.”

“Alright man, let’s go start a fight.”

“Convince him better,” Max cried.

“Think about it, Max, what if he loses?”

Max looked away. Imagining what would happen if Kim did indeed lose. He stood, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Kim, you’ve got to fight him.”

“Yes,” the swimmer exclaimed. “Now that we’re all on board, let’s find him.”

“Just texted Sabrina, they’re in the courtyard, talking to D’Argencourt,” said Max, looking at his phone.

“Let’s go!” Kim pumped his fist in the air and ran out, the librarian glaring at him as Max and Nino followed.

The fencing instructor was walking away from the two blondes and Sabrina as Kim bounced in place nearby. He waited a bit, letting the instructor get farther away before running up to Adrien. Chloé scoffed.

“And what do _you_ want?” She crossed her arms, glaring but not walking past.

“Who is he again,” Adrien asked quietly.

“Kim Ature, distance swimmer and pride of the swim team,” supplied Sabrina.

“Oh, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Adrien.”

“I know,” said Kim. “And I’m gonna fight you.”

“What,” said Adrien, eyes going wild.

“Well good luck Adrikins, we’ll be over there,” said Chloé pointing to a bench.

“First fight of the year, this is exciting,” said Sabrina, scampering after her.

“What—no— _what_? I can’t get into a fight; Father would be upset.”

Kim stretched, “I’ll let you make the first move.”

“But I’m a fencer.”

“And I’m a swimmer, make your move.”

Nino held his phone up, recording the interaction close enough to pick up their audio. Kim had only ever been in two fights before, both with Ivan, which at least gave him enough of a reputation that people thought he could fight. He could not. And from what he could gather, neither could this Adrien kid.

“God he’s an idiot,” said Alix, suddenly beside him.

Nino almost dropped his phone.

“H-hey, Alix. Here for the show?”

“I was on my way to the locker room when I saw this pathetic display.” She cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone and yelled, “Come on Kim, throw a punch already.”

“Stay out of this Alix,” he called, but did as she said and tried to punch Adrien who ducked away.

Adrien proved himself very good at running away as Kim chased him around the courtyard, which was growing a crowd, trying to punch him. He asked Chloé for help, but she filed her nails and told him, “Sorry, rite of passage. But look, you’ll be infinitely more popular in school after this.” Adrien eventually ran into Ivan, falling back. Kim didn’t have time to stop and tripped on the small blonde, punching Ivan.

“Whoopsie. Sorry there, buddy,” said Kim, scrambling back.

“Good job Kim,” called Alix.

“You know, I’ll just be happy if he faces some consequences for this,” said Nino.

Max sighed, “Mission failed.”

Ivan just brushed past the two, unwilling to get another mark on his record so soon. Especially after Chloé’s threat earlier.

“Cool, saved. Now then,” said Kim. He reared back and punched Adrien in the arm. Adrien flipped him.

“Sorry. You did hit me though. Are you okay?”

“Oh yeah, totally.”

A few of the students started to boo. Then Mendeleiev walked down the stairs, she’d been watching from her classroom window.

“What is the meaning of this,” she asked.

The students scattered.

“You’re pretty fast,” said Kim, still on the ground. “Wanna race sometime?”

“I…guess.”

“Kim, get off the floor,” said Mendeleiev. “Anyone still dawdling will receive detention.”

Kim sprung up. “Gotta go, see you in class.”

“That’s right Adrikins, what is the rest of your schedule?” Chloé pulled him along. Mendeleiev was the only teacher that would actually punish her; thus, she was unwilling to stay and receive it.

“Don’t we have the same classes,” Adrien asked.

“Only for general education. Sabrina, schedule.”

“Right.” She flipped through her school planner. It was blue. “Well, it’s Tuesday so we have chemistry next—”

“Damnit,” said Chloé.

“But Adrien doesn’t have a specialization, so he doesn’t have a lot of classes.”

“What, at least take like a business class or something, then we can hang out together more.” Chloé pouted. “Honestly, it’s not fair you get so much free time.”

He laughed, “Not really. It’s set up that way so I can still do photoshoots and interviews during the day.”

“You’re still working during the school year?”

They were taking the long way back to Mendeleiev’s, though Adrien didn’t know that. The break had made him forget just how many students were at this school. They all stared at him, but at least they weren’t approaching him. He figured that was Chloé’s doing, she could be very unapproachable. _That does make things easier, though being on display won’t help. I guess public school has more perks for her than private though_ , he thought. Chloé would be up against people with as much money as her in private school, or even more. This was about flaunting. And Adrien didn’t think he could get away with that. Not as overtly at least. _I need friends. Maybe my lab partner can fill that role?_

Nino groaned. Marinette was late. Or rather, she had five minutes to be on time for class and she wasn’t back yet. If she was late to class; then Mendeleiev would make him partners with the new kid. And wasn’t it bad enough that they sat next to each other in Bustier’s classes?

“Nino, where _is_ Marinette,” asked Mendeleiev, looking around.

“The restroom, I think,” he said, nervous laughter coloring his words.

The teacher huffed. “She had better hurry back. You may text her.”

Nino sighed and typed fast in all caps.

Mendeleiev turned to Alya in the second row. “Ms. Césaire, why don’t you and Mr. Agreste be lab partners from now on.” she gestured for Adrien to sit.

“Oh, alright then.”

“Hi,” said Adrien. “Sorry, I don’t know your name.”

“Alya. And you’re Adrien, model son to multi-millionaire fashion designer, Gabriel Agreste. You’re very easy to look up.”

“Yeah,” he frowned. “Can’t I just be Adrien, awkward new kid just getting out of homeschool?”

“Maybe.” She shrugged and faced the board. Marinette burst into the room just as the bell rang. Alya didn’t miss Nino’s quiet exclamation. “It depends on how good of a second impression you make.”

“So, who should I be trying to make friends with,” he whispered, pulling out his tablet to copy the notes.

“Marinette, I think.”

Marinette glanced back at the sound of her name. Her loose bun had evolved into a messy one. She gave Alya a small wave, ignoring Adrien.

“Good luck with that though.”

“Nette, you scared the hell out of me,” said Nino, stretching his arms as they left Mendeleiev’s room. They had mathematics right after chemistry and that’s what she taught. It was all very convenient scheduling for them, courtesy of Chloé not wanting to have to walk around so much.

“You would have been fine. Besides, I was already on my way back when you texted.” She had to fly to make it in time and people definitely took her picture. Alya’s gasp from behind them confirmed it though.

“Omg, Marinette look at this.” She showed her some blurry photos of a flying red figure with bits of black in her blur. “Do you think another incident happened while we were in class? What if I missed it?”

“Um…I think if something happened it would be on the news. So, maybe she’s just trying to get somewhere.”

“Or she’s covering something _else_ up. Think about it, she’s Paris’s first and only superhero, she’s all anyone’s been asking about for the past two weeks. An appearance for seemingly no reason could mean something big is going to happen.”

Mentally, Marinette was panicking. Physically she just smiled and nodded. “That would be a pretty big story, yeah.”

“On to more pressing matters,” said Nino, jabbing his thumb behind him. “Why is _he_ following us?”

“I invited him to have lunch with us,” said Alya.

“No,” said Marinette and Nino in unison.

“Oh, come on, he was homeschooled, he needs to make friends. Have a heart.”

“I have one, but there’s no vacancies for anyone with close connections to _Chloé_ ,” said Marinette.

“Sans Sabrina,” added Nino.

“ _Sans_ Sabrina,” Marinette repeated.

“Fine, fine. I’ll interview him later. Meet you at the canteen?”

“Stairs, Mireille wants to have lunch at that American place,” said Marinette.

“A McDonald’s?”

“No, but it does sell burgers. Just meet us at the stairs,” said Nino.

She went to tell Adrien the gang said no but he’d already been informed by his dad’s secretary that he was to eat lunch at home.

“Oh bummer. See you in art then.” She ran after Nino and Marinette.

The akuma attack happened the moment Alya got to the stairs. They were all hit with a sense of déjà vu a commotion came from up the street, and the street shook with the thump of hundreds of running feet.

“It’s coming from the cafe,” said Marinette.

“This could be my chance for a big scoop,” said Alya.

They both ran towards the coffee shop before Nino could stop them.

The Brasserie du lycée DuPont shared the same name as their school and the students got a discount there.[1] One of the theatre kids Marinette knew, Amelie Jardin, worked part time there. But she only worked there after school, so at least Marinette was sure it wasn’t her. Alya was running beside her, phone still out.

“Do you think it’s another one of those things,” she asked, breathing hard.

They stopped in front the café with its windows busted out. The stench of dark roast hit them like a wall. They could just make out the interior of the near empty café. Near empty, because on the floor sat a barista. “Most likely,” said Marinette.

Holding her phone up, Alya spun in slow circles. The afternoon blue of the sky remained emptied. She pointed her phone to the café. “I’m here live at the Brasserie du lycée DuPont where another strange incident has occurred. Will Paris’s Guardian Angels or _Angel_ appear again? What caused this incident?” A small gasp escaped her lips, a few of the other baristas had escaped the café and were hiding behind cars. “Marinette, will you help me with interviews?” She pointed towards the nearest car.

Marinette nodded, trying to think of an exit strategy. If this was an akuma then she needed to transform.

“Excuse me, could you tell us what happened,” said Alya. Marinette had her phone out, the audio recorder on.

“I-it-it was crazy. Ben, he just—just,” they waved their hands around trying to show what happened to no avail. “Cocoon! He got enveloped in this black and purple cocoon and then boom—windows shatter, coffee everywhere. It’s been a real bad week for him but-but—how is this happening?”

The two girls locked eyes.

“Thank you for your time. I’ll call the police,” said Alya. They walked away, sneakers splashing in lukewarm coffee as the streets flooded with the stuff. Alya snapped a few pictures. “Do you think that’s what happened to Ivan?”

“I don’t know.” Fu and Tikki had never actually witnessed an akumatization before.

“Should we go in?” Alya’s eyes were on the café, a quirk of eagerness to the corners of her lips.

“But don’t you want to see where she comes from,” Marinette said quickly.

“True.” The coffee rose higher despite the storm drains. “Let’s get to higher ground.”

Her chance.

Marinette nodded and said she’d tell the others. She found the nearest barista and hiding civilian and told them the coffee would only get high, they should head in somewhere. The barista wasn’t done with their shift though. They had no idea where their manager was. She helped the civilian away and ducked back into the school through one of the side entrances. “So much for his declaration of defeat,” said Tikki, flying out of her purse. Marinette was in an empty bathroom, the stench of coffee hit her even here as the drink rose in the streets. They transformed and dark roast pooled into the school once she opened the door. Pushing it shut against the weight, Ladybug in her daytime red, ran upstairs and jumped out a window, hoping Alya was on high ground.

“Maybe it hasn’t spread out yet.” She didn’t think she should waste anytime checking.

Ladybug dropped down in front the café, pulling on a red face mask with black spots, courtesy of the yo-yo. Walking forward, her shoulders sagged, and her eyelids drooped. With each step, her feet became concrete. The café was dark despite the sunny day outside of them.

“B-ben,” she called, voice tired. “Can you hear me?”

She didn’t know why she was doing this. What could she even do? She was just some kid.

Ladybug slapped her cheeks. “Gotta stay awake. Ben?!”

Wasn’t he just in the middle of the café? When did this place get so big?

The coffee was at her waist, the smell sickening. Her soaked cape dragged behind her. She unclasped it.

Was that the counter? Finally, solace in this dreary place. Maybe she’d find Ben. Or trip over him considering all this coffee. Her eyes widened, taking a deep breath, she dove below the dark roast.

[1] Based off of the Brasserie du lycée Carnot near the actual high school DuPont is based off of, thanks again AlgernonIn Wonderland. The real café apparently isn’t associated with the school and according to the reviews, does not allow minors. Lucky me this is fanfiction. 😉

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as said in the footnote, the real school Francois DuPont is based off of is Lycee Carnot and I will be using that area for everything taking place around the school. Gotta love GoogleMaps, travel from the comfort of your home. Also, this really explains why Marinette is so damn late all the time. It's a long walk and still a long bike ride.  
> This akuma might be happening too soon in this story but this is pretty fitting for where the show is.


End file.
